Pupila Photography

Load pupilaphotography.com and the underlying page declares itself German before you read a word of it: the html tag is stamped lang="de-CH", and every one of Squarespace's own interface labels, the menu toggle, the arrows between blog posts, the "read more" link, renders in German by default (Zurück, Weiter, Weiterlesen, Ältere Einträge). None of that carries over into anything the photographer actually wrote. Her hero line, her about page, her FAQ, her pricing, all 20 posts currently listed on her blog, every testimonial quoted on the site: English, without exception. Sending the site a German-language request header changes nothing; the copy that comes back is identical. A "Deutsch" toggle does sit in the main navigation, built on Squarespace's own language picker, but it needs a browser to act on it, and I could not confirm what, if anything, sits behind it. What is verifiable is simpler and more useful to a couple planning from abroad: nothing they would actually read, price, or book is written in anything but English.

She goes by Mar, full name Mar Vilà Solé on every blog byline. Her about page places her in Basel and describes her, in her own words, as Spanish, "forever homesick for the sun & the sea." She calls the work documentary and says she has "accompanied hundreds of people photographically over the last few years," working, by her own account, "all over Switzerland and at destination." Weddings get a mix of formats rather than one: her FAQ says most days are shot on "a mix of film and digital," and she names the format specifically, 35mm. That, combined with a stated preference for unscripted moments over posed ones ("I won't ask you to sit awkwardly and smile for the camera"), places her toward the documentary end of the category rather than the tightly directed one.

3 products, 3 flat starting prices

Her price page lists 3 distinct wedding products rather than a single package scaled by hours: civil weddings from 1200 CHF, elopements from 1500 CHF, and a full wedding day from 3000 CHF. All 3 are quoted as "from" figures, with no published ceiling, no stated coverage-hour count attached to any of them, and no second-shooter line, because no second photographer appears anywhere on the site; every FAQ answer and every blog post is written in the first person singular. A family, pregnancy or newborn session starts at 400 CHF, and so does a personal or business branding session, the same starting number for 2 otherwise unrelated products. Booking begins the same way for all of them: what she calls "a casual & non-binding coffee or Zoom call" before she puts together a custom proposal, a detail that matters as much to a couple planning from outside Switzerland as to a couple already living there, since the first real conversation doesn't require a flight.

On turnaround, her wedding FAQ commits to a gallery within 3 to 6 weeks and estimates 40 to 60 edited photos per hour of coverage, a rate rather than a fixed total, so the final count depends on how long she's booked for. Branding clients get their gallery faster, within 2 to 3 weeks. Physical albums are sold as a separate, custom-designed product, with their own dedicated blog post, though the site says nothing about print or usage rights beyond that they exist. Nothing on the price page or FAQ mentions a travel fee for a destination booking, even though the FAQ answers yes to exactly that question: "I'll be very excited to do a destination wedding." A couple weighing a Zermatt or Ticino date against a Basel one will need to ask her directly what the difference costs; the site is silent on it.

An elopement product rebuilt around not having a schedule

Her elopement offering gets its own dedicated blog post, not just a price line, and it says plainly what changed: "The packages I book most often now come with no time limits." That post names 5 general locations she suggests, the Lauterbrunnen valley ("Imagine 72 waterfalls cascading into fairytale alpine meadows," in her words), Oeschinensee, Seealpsee or Bachalpsee, the Lavaux vineyards, and Zermatt, and recommends booking 2 to 4 months out. On the legal side she is careful with her own language: she calls these "symbolic outdoor ceremonies" and says most need no permit unless a couple wants an archway or an altar-sized structure on a public trail. That's a photographer describing what she photographs, not a claim to any role in making a marriage official.

That description isn't only marketing copy. Her blog carries an actual elopement built the same way: an unnamed couple exchanging vows in the Lauterbrunnen valley in early spring, the day starting inside "a small wooden hut" before moving out "between towering mountains and open sky," with, in her words, "no decorations, no audience." 4 other posts document named real weddings rather than a styled shoot. David and Eline's day moved from an apéro at the Merian Garten to a reception at the Waldhaus Basel. Elora and Mischa's civil ceremony was followed by an evening at Les Trois Rois on the Rhine, with the post noting "next year the big wedding awaits," suggesting this day was smaller than what's still to come. Diana and Roman celebrated at Lake Sarnen with what she describes as a "Samoan traditional dance." And Florence and Thomas, married almost 10 years with 2 children, held what their own post frames as celebrating their relationship again rather than a first wedding, in Gstaad. A separate post recommends 5 specific Basel venues by name, Villa Wenkenhof, Les Trois Rois, Ostquai, Villa Merian, and a vintage tram couples can board after a civil ceremony at the Zivilstandsamt, the kind of granular, checkable local knowledge a portfolio gallery alone wouldn't show.

Still active, not a dormant listing

The site is being maintained, not left running on autopilot. Its most recent blog post is dated 4 August 2026, the same month this listing was researched, and the homepage states plainly that 2026 dates are nearly gone and 2027 is what she's now booking. The testimonials on the site name real clients rather than reading like filler copy: "A & L," Alina (a family shoot where her "playful, gentle approach" is credited with settling a shy child), "O & J," and Andreas, whose office team photos she shot for a business branding session.

What the site doesn't do is spell out everything. There's no published travel fee, no stated coverage-hour count behind any of the 3 wedding prices, and no second photographer named if a couple wanted a backup shooter for a larger day. None of that is unusual for a solo studio, and none of it should stop an enquiry. What's on the page, in English throughout, with 3 clear starting prices, a current booking calendar, and a real and recent body of Swiss wedding work behind named couples and real venues, is enough to act on. The rest is a question for the coffee call.